Local Anesthesia With Schelin Catheter in Rezum Treatment: a Randomized Controlled Trial (LOCALVAPOR)

February 10, 2026 updated by: Assistance Publique Hopitaux De Marseille
In a pilot study, water vapor therapy (RezumTM, Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA) was proposed as a minimally invasive procedure for benign prostatic hyperplasia, but often requiring oral ± intravenous sedation or a transrectal prostatic block. Therefore, pain management during Rezum therapy remains a challenge and may lead to the use of pain control protocols and general anesthesia, limiting in some ways the concept of a minimally invasive ambulatory surgical approach. The Schelin® catheter (ProstaLund AB, Lund, Sweden), approved by the European Medicines Agency, is a device for injecting analgesic drugs directly into the prostate via the trans-urethral route, providing more effective local anesthesia and avoiding the need for transrectal route or general anesthesia. This catheter is therefore of crucial importance in offering to our patients an ultra-minimally invasive treatment, associated with a reduction in room occupancy time, outpatient surgery time, a procedure performed independently of the anesthesia team, and for the patient, an accelerated post-operative recovery. Our hypothesis is that the REZUM procedure under local anesthesia could be associated with a >20% reduction in operating room occupancy time compared to procedures performed under general anesthesia.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common age-related pathology, affecting almost one in three men over the age of 50. It is responsible for voiding disorders in men, which can significantly impair quality of life. Briefly, drug treatment is currently used as first-line therapy; in the event of primary or secondary failure, surgery may be indicated. Over the past 25 years, a number of minimally invasive surgical therapies (MIST) have been developed for the treatment of male voiding disorders associated with BPH. MIST should enable rapid and lasting improvement in symptoms and quality of life, preservation of sexual function in contrast to conventional surgical techniques, rapid return to normal daily activity, and a minimal side-effect profile, thus enabling outpatient management. One of the many advantages of these techniques is to avoid the need for general anaesthesia, both for the growing cohort of elderly patients and for younger patients wishing to return to work quickly. In its pilot study, water vapor thermal therapy (RezumTM, Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA) was proposed as a minimally invasive procedure, but often requiring oral ± intravenous sedation or a transrectal prostatic block. Therefore, pain management during Rezum therapy remains a challenge and may lead to the use of pain control protocols and general anesthesia, in some ways limiting the concept of a minimally invasive ambulatory surgery approach. In addition, the use of general anesthesia requires the presence of a dedicated anesthesia team, and adds to the burden of the patient journey (pre-operative anesthesia consultation, exposure to anesthetic drugs, passage to recovery room, slower post-operative recovery). From a surgical point of view, recourse to general anesthesia during Rezum treatment adds to an already saturated operative schedule, with significantly increased room occupancy time, for a Rezum therapy whose average operating time is 5 minutes. The Schelin® catheter (ProstaLund AB, Lund, Sweden), approved by the European Medicines Agency, is a device for injecting analgesic drugs directly into the prostate via the transurethral route, providing more effective local anesthesia and avoiding the need for transrectal or general anesthesia. This catheter is therefore of crucial use in offering our patients an ultra-minimally invasive treatment, which can be associated with a reduction in room occupancy time, time spent in outpatient surgery, a procedure performed independently of the anesthesia team, and for the patient, an accelerated post-operative recovery.

By delivering the Rezum treatment via the Schelin catheter, our hypothesis is a significant reduction (>20%) in room occupancy time in the operating room, associated with accelerated post-operative recovery for the patient.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

24

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

      • Marseille, France, 13015
        • Recruiting
        • Service d'urologie, Hôpital Nord (AP-HM)
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients referred for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
  • Men between 45 and 80 years of age
  • IPSS > 13
  • Qmax <15 ml/s
  • Prostate volume between 30 and 80 g on ultrasound
  • Patient able to understand study details, benefits and risks
  • Patient able to give informed consent
  • Beneficiary of or affiliated to the French social security system
  • Patient having signed an informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with a history of prostate cancer
  • Patient with history of BPH surgery
  • Patients with a history of neurological bladder disease
  • Patient with history of urethral stricture
  • Patient with history of penile implants
  • Patient with history of pelvic irradiation
  • Patient with a symptomatic urinary tract infection in the 10 days prior to surgery
  • Presence of bladder stones on ultrasonography
  • Patient allergic to lidocaine 2% or any medication used in the pre-operative protocol (anxiolytics, analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)
  • Patient under guardianship or curatorship
  • Protected patient, deprived of liberty
  • Patient with a neurological and/or psychiatric disorder making it impossible to understand the terms of the study and to sign an informed consent form

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: general anesthesia
REZUM procedure under general anesthesia
Water vapor procedure will be performe under conscious intravenous sedation with anesthesia team
Active Comparator: Local anesthesia
REZUM procedure under local anesthesia
Water vapor procedure will be performe under local anethesia administrated with Schelin® catheter via the trans-urethral route : injection of 20cc of lidocaine 2% intra-prostatically via the schelin catheter at 4 injection points (3cc at 1h, 3cc at 11h, 7cc at 4h, and 7cc at 8h).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of the operating room occupancy time between the 2 groups
Time Frame: Visit 2: surgery
Operating room occupancy time during REZUM procedure
Visit 2: surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of the quality of recovery after surgery between the 2 groups
Time Frame: 24h after surgery
Quality of recovery-15 scores (QoR-15)
24h after surgery
Comparison of the pain post-surgery between the 2 groups
Time Frame: 1 hour, 2 hours and 24 hours after surgery
Numerical pain rating scale (0-10)
1 hour, 2 hours and 24 hours after surgery
Success rate of the local anesthesia for the REZUM procedure
Time Frame: intraoperative
  • Number of patients with intraoperative anesthesia changes
  • Numerical pain rating scale (0-10) during surgery
intraoperative
Comparison of functional results between the 2 groups
Time Frame: 3 months post-surgery

urinary function assessment:

  • International Prostate Symptom Score
  • International Prostate Symptom Score - Quality of Life
  • Uriflometry (Qmax)

Sexual function assessment:

  • International Index of Erectile Function
  • Male Sexual Health Questionnaire
3 months post-surgery
Comparison of the average number of side-effects post-surgery between the 2 groups
Time Frame: 30 days post-surgery
Post-operative side effects reported using the Clavien-Dindo classification
30 days post-surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 24, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 24, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 24, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 21, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 23, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

October 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 11, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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